The Buddha & His
Message - Past, Present, and Future

Bhikkhu Bodhi

On May 15, 2000,
Bhikkhu Bodhi addressed the United Nations
on the occasion of the first official U.N. celebration of Vesak,
the day marking the birth, enlightenment, and passing away of the Buddha.

Prologue

To begin, I would like to express my pleasure to be here today, on
this auspicious occasion of the first official U.N. celebration of Vesak, the day marking
the birth, enlightenment, and passing away of the Buddha. Though I wear the robe of a
Theravada Buddhist monk, I am also a native of New York City, born and raised in Brooklyn.
I knew nothing about Buddhism during the first twenty years of my life. In my early
twenties I developed an interest in Buddhism as a meaningful alternative to the
materialism of modern American culture, an interest which grew over the following years.
After finishing my graduate studies in Western philosophy, I traveled to Sri Lanka, where
I entered the Buddhist monastic order. I have lived in Sri Lanka for most of my adult
life, and thus I feel particularly happy to return to my home city to address this august
assembly.

Ever since the fifth century B.C., the Buddha has been the
Light of Asia, a spiritual teacher whose teaching has shed its radiance over an area that
once extended from the Kabul Valley in the west to Japan in the east, from Sri Lanka in
the south to Siberia in the north. The Buddha's sublime personality has given birth to a
whole civilization guided by lofty ethical and humanitarian ideals, to a vibrant spiritual
tradition that has ennobled the lives of millions with a vision of man's highest
potentials. His graceful figure is the centerpiece of magnificent achievements in all the
arts -in literature, painting, sculpture, and architecture.

His gentle, inscrutable smile has blossomed into vast
libraries of scriptures and treatises attempting to fathom his profound wisdom. Today, as
Buddhism becomes better known all over the globe, it is attracting an ever-expanding
circle of followers and has already started to make an impact on Western culture. Hence it
is most fitting that the United Nations should reserve one day each year to pay tribute to
this man of mighty intellect and boundless heart, whom millions of people in many
countries look upon as their master and guide.

The Birth of the Buddha

The first event in the life of the Buddha commemorated by
Vesak is his birth. In this part of my talk I want to consider the birth of the Buddha,
not in bare historical terms, but through the lens of Buddhist tradition - an approach
that will reveal more clearly what this event means for Buddhists themselves. To view the
Buddha's birth through the lens of Buddhist tradition, we must first consider the
question, "What is a Buddha?" As is widely known, the word "Buddha" is
not a proper name but an honorific title meaning "the Enlightened One" or
"the Awakened One." The title is bestowed on the Indian sage Siddhartha Gautama,
who lived and taught in northeast India in the fifth century B.C. From the historical
point of view, Gautama is the Buddha, the founder of the spiritual tradition known as
Buddhism.

However, from the standpoint of classical Buddhist
doctrine, the word "Buddha" has a wider significance than the title of one
historical figure. The word denotes, not just a single religious teacher who lived in a
particular epoch, but a type of person -- an exemplar -- of which there have been many
instances in the course of cosmic time. just as the title "American President"
refers not just to Bill Clinton, but to everyone who has ever held the office of the
American presidency, so the title "Buddha" is in a sense a "spiritual
office," applying to all who have attained the state of Buddhahood. The Buddha
Gautama, then, is simply the latest member in the spiritual lineage of Buddhas, which
stretches back into the dim recesses of the past and forward into the distant horizons of
the future.

To understand this point more clearly requires a short
excursion into Buddhist cosmology. The Buddha teaches that the universe is without any
discoverable beginning in time: there is no first point, no initial moment of creation.
Through beginningless time, world systems arise, evolve, and then disintegrate, followed
by new world systems subject to the same law of growth and decline. Each world system
consists of numerous planes of existence inhabited by sentient beings similar in most
respects to ourselves. Besides the familiar human and animal realms, it contains heavenly
planes ranged above our own, realms of celestial bliss, and infernal planes below our own,
dark realms of pain and misery. The beings dwelling in these realms pass from life to life
in an unbroken process of rebirth called samsara, a word which means "the wandering
on." This aimless wandering from birth to birth is driven by our own ignorance and
craving, and the particular form any rebirth takes is determined by our karma, our good
and bad deeds, our volitional actions of body, speech, and thought. An impersonal moral
law governs this process, ensuring that good deeds bring a pleasant rebirth, and bad deeds
a painful one.

In all planes of existence life is impermanent, subject to
aging, decay, and death. Even life in the heavens, though long and blissful, does not last
forever. Every existence eventually comes to an end, to be followed by a rebirth
elsewhere. Therefore, when closely examined, all modes of existence within samsara reveal
themselves as flawed, stamped with the mark of imperfection. They are unable to offer a
stable, secure happiness and peace, and thus cannot deliver a final solution to the
problem of suffering.

However, beyond the conditioned spheres of rebirth, there
is also a realm or state of perfect bliss and peace, of complete spiritual freedom, a
state that can be realized right here and now even in the midst of this imperfect world.
This state is called Nirvana (in Pali, Nibbana), the "going out" of the flames
of greed, hatred, and delusion. There is also a path, a way of practice, that leads from
the suffering of samsara to the bliss of Nirvana; from the round of ignorance, craving,
and bondage, to unconditioned peace and freedom.

For long ages this path will be lost to the world, utterly
unknown, and thus the way to Nirvana will be inaccessible. From time to time, however,
there arises within the world a man who, by his own unaided effort and keen intelligence,
finds the lost path to deliverance. Having found it, he follows it through and fully
comprehends the ultimate truth about the world. Then he returns to humanity and teaches
this truth to others, making known once again the path to the highest bliss. The person
who exercises this function is a Buddha.

A Buddha is thus not merely an Enlightened One, but is
above all an Enlightener, a World Teacher. His function is to rediscover, in an age of
spiritual darkness, the lost path to Nirvana, to perfect spiritual freedom, and teach this
path to the world at large. Thereby others can follow in his steps and arrive at the same
experience of emancipation that he himself achieved. A Buddha is not unique in attaining
Nirvana. All those who follow the path to its end realize the same goal. Such people are
called arahants, "worthy ones," because they have destroyed all ignorance and
craving. The unique role of a Buddha is to rediscover the Dharma, the ultimate principle
of truth, and to establish a "dispensation" or spiritual heritage to preserve
the teaching for future generations. So long as the teaching is available, those who
encounter it and enter the path can arrive at the goal pointed to by the Buddha as the
supreme good.

To qualify as a Buddha, a World Teacher, an aspirant must
prepare himself over an inconceivably long period of time spanning countless lives. During
these past lives, the future Buddha is referred to as a bodhisattva, an aspirant to the
full enlightenment of Buddhahood. In each life the bodhisattva must train himself, through
altruistic deeds and meditative effort, to acquire the qualities essential to a Buddha.
According to the teaching of rebirth, at birth our mind is not a blank slate but brings
along all the qualities and tendencies we have fashioned in our previous lives. Thus to
become a Buddha requires the fulfillment, to the ultimate degree, of all the moral and
spiritual qualities that reach their climax in Buddhahood. These qualities are called
paramis or paramitas, transcendent virtues or perfections. Different Buddhist traditions
offer slightly different lists of the paramis. In the Theravada tradition they are said to
be tenfold: generosity, moral conduct, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience,
truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity. In each existence, life
after life through countless cosmic aeons, a bodhisattva must cultivate these sublime
virtues in all their manifold aspects.

What motivates the bodhisattva to cultivate the paramis to
such extraordinary heights is the compassionate wish to bestow upon the world the teaching
that leads to the Deathless, to the perfect peace of Nirvana. This aspiration, nurtured by
boundless love and compassion for all living beings caught in the net of suffering, is the
force that sustains the bodhisattva in his many lives of striving to perfect the paramis.
And it is only when all the paramis have reached the peak of perfection that he is
qualified to attain supreme enlightenment as a Buddha. Thus the personality of the Buddha
is the culmination of the ten qualities represented by the ten paramis Like a well-cut
gem, his personality exhibits all excellent qualities in perfect balance. In him, these
ten qualities have reached their consummation, blended into a harmonious whole.

This explains why the birth of the future Buddha has such
a profound and joyful significance for Buddhists. The birth marks not merely the arising
of a great sage and ethical preceptor, but the arising of. a future World Teacher. Thus at
Vesak we celebrate the Buddha as one who has striven through countless past lives to
perfect all the sublime virtues that will entitle him to teach the world the path to the
highest happiness and peace.

The Quest for Enlightenment

From the heights of classical Buddhology, I will now
descend to the plain of human history and briefly review the life of the Buddha up to his
attainment of enlightenment. This will allow me to give a short summary of the main points
of his teaching, emphasizing those that are especially relevant today.

At the outset I must stress that the Buddha was not born
as an Enlightened One. Though he had qualified himself for Buddhahood through his past
lives, he first had to undergo a long and painful struggle to find the truth for himself.
The future Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in the small Sakyan republic close to the
Himalayan foothills, a region that at present lies in southern Nepal. While we do not know
the exact dates of his life, many scholars believe he lived from approximately 563 to 483
B.C.; a smaller number place the dates about a century later. Legend holds he was the son
of a powerful monarch, but the Sakyan state was actually a tribal republic, and thus his
father was probably the chief of the ruling council of elders.

As a royal youth, Prince Siddhartha was raised in luxury.
At the age of sixteen he married a beautiful princess named Yasodhara and lived a
contented life in the capital, Kapilavastu. Over time, however, the prince became
increasingly pensive. What troubled him were the great burning issues we ordinarily take
for granted, the questions concerning the purpose and meaning of our lives. Do we live
merely for the enjoyment of sense pleasures, the achievement of wealth and status, the
exercise of power? Or is there something beyond these, more real and fulfilling? At the
age of 29, stirred by deep reflection on the hard realities of life, he decided that the
quest for illumination had a higher priority than the promise of power or the call of
worldly duty. Thus, while still in the prime of life, he cut off his hair and beard, put
on the saffron robe, and entered upon the homeless life of renunciation, seeking a way to
release from the round of repeated birth, old age, and death.

The princely ascetic first sought out the most eminent
spiritual teachers of his day. He mastered their doctrines and systems of meditation, but
soon enough realized that these teachings did not lead to the goal he was seeking. He next
adopted the path of extreme asceticism, of self-mortification, which he pursued almost to
the door of death. Just then, when his prospects looked bleak, he thought of another path
to enlightenment, one that balanced proper care of the body with sustained contemplation
and deep investigation. He would later call this path "the middle way" because
it avoids the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification.

Having regained his strength by taking nutritious food,
one day he approached a lovely spot by the bank of the Neranjara River, near the town of
Gaya. He sat down cross-legged beneath a tree (later called the Bodhi Tree), making a firm
resolution that he would never rise up from his seat until he had won his goal. As night
descended he entered into deeper and deeper stages of meditation. Then, the records tell
us, when his mind was perfectly composed, in the first watch of the night he recollected
his past births, even during many cosmic aeons; in the middle watch, he developed the
"divine eye" by which he could see beings passing away and taking rebirth in
accordance with their karma; and in the last watch, he penetrated the deepest truths of
existence, the most basic laws of reality. When dawn broke, the figure sitting beneath the
tree was no longer a bodhisattva, a seeker of enlightenment, but a Buddha, a Perfectly
Enlightened One, who had stripped away the subtlest veils of ignorance and attained the
Deathless in this very life. According to Buddhist tradition, this event occurred in May
of his thirty-fifth year, on the Vesak full moon. This is the second great occasion in the
Buddha's life that Vesak celebrates: his attainment of enlightenment.

For several weeks the newly enlightened Buddha remained in
the vicinity of the Bodhi Tree contemplating from different angles the truth he had
discovered. Then, as he gazed out upon the world, his heart was moved by deep compassion
for those still mired in ignorance, and he decided to go forth and teach the liberating
Dharma. In the months ahead his following grew by leaps and bounds as both ascetics and
householders heard the new gospel and went for refuge to the Enlightened One. Each year,
even into old age, the Buddha wandered among the villages, towns, and cities of northeast
India, patiently teaching all who would lend an ear. He established an order of monks and
nuns, the Sangha, to carry on his message. This order still remains alive today, perhaps
(along with the Jain order) the world's oldest continuous institution. He also attracted
many lay followers who became devout supporters of the Blessed One and the order.

The Buddha's Teaching: Its Aim

To ask why the Buddha's teaching spread so rapidly among
all sectors of northeast Indian society is to raise a question that is not of merely
historical interest but is also relevant to us today. For we live at a time when Buddhism
is exerting a strong appeal upon an increasing number of people, both East and West. I
believe the remarkable success of Buddhism, as well as its contemporary appeal, can be
understood principally in terms of two factors: one, the aim of the teaching; and the
other, its methodology.

As to the aim, the Buddha formulated his teaching in a way
that directly addresses the critical problem at the heart of human existence -- the
problem of suffering -- and does so without reliance upon the myths and mysteries so
typical of religion. He further promises that those-who follow his teaching to its end
will realize here and now the highest happiness and peace. All other concerns apart from
this, such as theological dogmas, metaphysical subtleties, rituals and rules of worship,
the Buddha waves aside as irrelevant to the task at hand, the mind's liberation from its
bonds and fetters.

This pragmatic thrust of the Dharma is clearly illustrated
by the main formula into which the Buddha compressed his program of deliverance, namely,
the Four Noble Truths:

(1) the noble truth that life involves suffering
(2) the noble truth that suffering arises from craving
(3) the noble truth that suffering ends with the removal of craving
(4) the noble truth that there is a way to the end of suffering.

The Buddha not only makes suffering and release from
suffering the focus of his teaching, but he deals with the problem of suffering in a way
that reveals extraordinary psychological insight. He traces suffering to its roots within
our minds, first to our craving and clinging, and then a step further back to ignorance, a
primordial unawareness of the true nature of things. Since suffering arises from our own
minds, the cure must be achieved within our minds, by dispelling our defilements and
delusions with insight into reality. The beginning point of the Buddha's teaching is the
unenlightened mind, in the grip of its afflictions, cares, and sorrows; the end point is
the enlightened mind, blissful, radiant, and free.

To bridge the gap between the beginning and end points of
his teaching, the Buddha offers a clear, precise, practicable path made up of eight
factors. This of course is the Noble Eightfold Path. The path begins with (1) right view
of the basic truths of existence, and (2) right intention to undertake the training. It
then proceeds through the three ethical factors of (3) right speech, (4) right action, and
(5) right livelihood, to the three factors pertaining to meditation and mental
development: (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, and (8) right concentration. When
all eight factors of the path are brought to maturity, the disciple penetrates with
insight the true nature of existence and reaps the fruits of the path: perfect wisdom and
unshakable liberation of mind.

The Methodology of the Teaching

The methodological characteristics of the Buddha's
teaching follow closely from its aim, One of its most attractive features, closely related
to its psychological orientation, is its emphasis on self-reliance. For the Buddha, the
key to liberation is mental purity and correct understanding, and thus he rejects the idea
that we can gain salvation by leaning on anyone else. The Buddha does not claim any divine
status for himself, nor does he profess to be a personal savior. He calls himself, rather,
a guide and teacher, who points out the path the disciple must follow.

Since wisdom or insight is the chief instrument of
emancipation, the Buddha always asked his disciples to follow him on the basis of their
own understanding, not from blind obedience or unquestioning trust. He invites inquirers
to investigate his teaching, to examine it in the light of their own reason and
intelligence. The Dharma or Teaching is experiential, something to be practiced and seen,
not a verbal creed to be merely believed. As one takes up the practice of the path, one
experiences a growing sense of joy and peace, which expands and deepens as one advances
along its clearly marked steps.

What is most impressive about the original teaching is its
crystal clarity. The Dharma is open and lucid, simple but deep. It combines ethical purity
with logical rigor, lofty vision with fidelity to the facts of lived experience. Though
full penetration of the truth proceeds in stages, the teaching begins with principles that
are immediately evident as soon as we use them as guidelines for reflection. Each step,
successfully mastered, naturally leads on to deeper levels of realization. Because the
Buddha deals with the most universal of all human problems, the problem of suffering, he
made his teaching a universal message, addressed to all human beings solely by reason of
their humanity. He opened the doors of liberation to people of all social classes in
ancient Indian society, to brahmins, princes, merchants, and farmers, even humble
outcasts. As part of his universalist project, the Buddha also threw open the doors of his
teaching to women. It is this universal dimension of the Dharma that enabled it to spread
beyond the bounds of India and make Buddhism a world religion.

Some scholars have depicted the Buddha as an otherworldly
mystic totally indifferent to the problems of mundane life. However, an unbiased reading
of the early Buddhist canon would show that this charge is untenable. The Buddha taught
not only a path of contemplation for monks and nuns, but also a code of noble ideals to
guide men and women living in the world. In fact, the Buddha's success in the wider Indian
religious scene can be partly explained by the new model he provided for his householder
disciples, the model of the man or woman of the world who combines a busy life of family
and social responsibilities with an unwavering commitment to the values embedded in the
Dharma.

The moral code the Buddha prescribed for the laity
consists of the Five Precepts, which require abstinence from killing, stealing, sexual
misconduct, false speech, and the use of intoxicating substances. The positive side of
ethics is represented by the inner qualities of heart corresponding to these rules of
restraint: love and compassion for all living beings; honesty in one's dealings with
others; faithfulness to one's marital vows; truthful speech; and sobriety of mind. Beyond
individual ethics, the Buddha laid down guidelines for parents and children, husbands and
wives, employers and workers, intended to promote a society marked by harmony, peace, and
good will at all levels. He also explained to kings their duties towards their citizens.
These discourses show the Buddha as an astute political thinker who understood well that
government and the economy can flourish only when those in power prefer the welfare of the
people to their own private interests.

The Parinirvana and Afterwards

The third great event in the Master's life commemorated at
Vesak is his parinirvana or passing away. The story of the Buddha's last days is told in
vivid and moving detail in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. After an active ministry of
forty-five years, at the age of eighty the Buddha realized his end was at hand. Lying on
his deathbed, he refused to appoint a personal successor, but told the monks that after
his death the Dharma itself should be their guide. To those overcome by grief he repeated
the hard truth that impermanence holds sway over all conditioned things, including the
physical body of an Enlightened One. He invited his disciples to question him about the
doctrine and the path, and urged them to strive with diligence for the goal. Then,
perfectly poised, he calmly passed away into the "Nirvana element with no remainder
of conditioned existence."

Three months after the Buddha's death, five hundred of his
enlightened disciples held a conference at Rajagaha to collect his teachings and preserve
them for posterity. This compilation of texts gave future generations a codified version
of the doctrine to rely on for guidance. During the first two centuries after the Buddha's
parinirvana, his dispensation slowly continued to spread, though its influence remained
confined largely to northeast India. Then in the third century B.C., an event took place
that transformed the fortunes of Buddhism and set it on the road to becoming a world
religion. After a bloody military campaign that left thousands of people dead, King Asoka,
the third emperor of the Mauryan dynasty, avidly turned to Buddhism to ease his pained
conscience. He saw in the Dharma the inspiration for a social policy built on
righteousness rather than force and oppression, and he proclaimed his new policy in
edicts. inscribed on rocks and pillars throughout his empire. While following Buddhism in
his private life, Asoka did not try to impose his personal faith on others but promoted
the shared Indian conception of Dharma as the law of righteousness that brings happiness
and harmony in daily life and a good rebirth after death.

Under Asoka's patronage, the monks held a council in the
royal capital at which they decided to dispatch Buddhist missions throughout the Indian
subcontinent and beyond to the outlying regions. The most fruitful of these, in terms of
later Buddhist history, was the mission to Sri Lanka, led by Asoka's own son, the monk
Mahinda, who was soon followed by Asoka's daughter, the nun Sanghamitta. This royal pair
brought to Sri Lanka the Theravada form of Buddhism, which prevails there even to this
day.

Within India itself Buddhism evolved through three major
stages, which have become its three main historical forms. The first stage saw the
diffusion of the original teaching and the splintering of the monastic order into some
eighteen schools divided on minor points of doctrine. Of these, the only school to survive
is the Theravada, which early on had sent down roots in Sri Lanka and perhaps elsewhere in
Southeast Asia. Here it could thrive in relative insulation from the changes affecting
Buddhism on the subcontinent. Today the Theravada, the descendent of early Buddhism,
prevails in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

Beginning in about the first century B.C., a new form of
Buddhism gradually emerged, which its advocates called the Mahayana, the Great Vehicle, in
contrast with the earlier schools, which they called the Hinayana or Lesser Vehicle. The
Mahayanists, elaborated upon the career of the bodhisattva, now held up as the universal
Buddhist ideal, and proposed a radical interpretation of wisdom as insight into emptiness,
or shunyata, the ultimate nature of all phenomena. The Mahayana scriptures inspired bold
systems of philosophy, formulated by such brilliant thinkers as Nagarjuna, Asanga,
Vasubandhu, and Dharmakirti. For the common. devotees the Mahayana texts spoke of
celestial Buddhas and bodhisattvas who could come to the aid of the faithful. In its early
phase, during the first six centuries of the Common Era, the Mahayana spread to China, and
from there to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. In these lands Buddhism gave birth to new schools
more congenial to the Far Eastern mind than the Indian originals. The best known of these
is Zen Buddhism, now widely represented in the West.

In India, perhaps by the eighth century, Buddhism evolved
into its third historical form, called the Vajrayana, the Diamond Vehicle, based on
esoteric texts called Tantras. Vajrayana Buddhism accepted the doctrinal perspectives of
the Mahayana, but supplemented these with magic rituals, mystical symbolism, and intricate
yogic practices intended to speed up the way to enlightenment. The Vajrayana spread from
northern India to Nepal, Tibet, and other Himalayan lands, and today dominates Tibetan
Buddhism.

What is remarkable about the dissemination of Buddhism
throughout its long history is its ability to win the allegiance of entire populations
solely by peaceful means. Buddhism has always spread by precept and example, never by
force. The purpose in propagating the Dharma has not been to make converts, but to show
others the way to true happiness and peace. Whenever the peoples of any nation or region
adopted Buddhism, it became for them, far more than just a religion, the fountainhead of a
complete way of life. It has inspired great works of philosophy, literature, painting, and
sculpture comparable to those of any other culture. It has molded social, political, and
educational institutions; given guidance to rulers and citizens; shaped the morals,
customs, and etiquette that order the lives of its followers. While the particular
modalities of Buddhist civilization differ widely, from Sri Lanka to Mongolia to Japan,
they are all pervaded by a subtle but unmistakable flavor that makes them distinctly
Buddhist.

Throughout the centuries, following the disappearance of
Buddhism in India, the adherents of the different schools of Buddhism lived in nearly
total isolation from one another, hardly aware of each other's existence. Since the middle
of the twentieth century, however, Buddhists of the different traditions have begun to
interact and have learnt to recognize their common Buddhist identity. In the West now, for
the first time since the decline of Indian Buddhism, followers of the three main Buddhist
"vehicles" coexist within the same geographical region. This close affiliation
is bound to result in hybrids and perhaps in still new styles of Buddhism distinct from
all traditional forms. Buddhism in the West is still too young to permit long-range
predictions, but we can be sure the Dharma is here to stay and will interact with Western
culture, hopefully for their mutual enrichment.

The Buddha's Message for Today

In this last part of my lecture I wish to discuss, very
briefly, the relevance of the Buddha's teachings to our own era, as we stand on the
threshold of a new century and a new millennium. What I find particularly interesting to
note is that Buddhism can provide helpful insights and practices across a wide spectrum of
disciplines - from philosophy and psychology to medical care and ecology - without
requiring those who use its resources to adopt Buddhism as a full-fledged religion. Here I
want to focus only on the implications of Buddhist principles for the formation of public
policy.

Despite the tremendous advances humankind has made in
science and technology, advances that have dramatically improved living conditions in so
many ways, we still find ourselves confronted with global problems that mock our most
determined attempts to solve them within established frameworks.

These problems include: explosive regional tensions of
ethnic and religious character; the continuing spread of nuclear weapons; disregard for
human rights; the widening gap between the rich and the poor; international trafficking in
drugs, women, and children; the depletion of the earth's natural resources; and the
despoliation of the environment. From a Buddhist perspective, what is most striking when
we reflect upon these problems as a whole is their essentially symptomatic character.
Beneath their outward diversity they appear to be so many manifestations of a common root,
of a deep and hidden spiritual malignancy infecting our social organism. This common root
might be briefly characterized as a stubborn insistence on placing narrow, short-term self
interests (including the interests of the social or ethnic groups to which we happen to
belong) above the long-range good of the broader human community. The multitude of social
ills that afflict us cannot be adequately accounted for without bringing into view the
powerful human drives that lie behind them. Too often, these drives send us in pursuit of
divisive, limited ends even when such pursuits are ultimately self-destructive.

The Buddha's teaching offers us two valuable tools to help
us extricate ourselves from this tangle. One is its hardheaded analysis of the
psychological springs of human suffering. The other is the precisely articulated path of
moral and mental training it holds out as a solution. The Buddha explains that the hidden
springs of human suffering, in both the personal and social arenas of our lives, are three
mental factors called the unwholesome roots, namely, greed, hatred, and delusion.
Traditional Buddhist teaching depicts these unwholesome roots as the causes of personal
suffering, but by taking a wider view we can see them as equally the source of social,
economic, and political suffering. Through the prevalence of greed the world is being
transformed into a global marketplace where people are reduced to the status of consumers,
even commodities, and our planet's vital resources are being pillaged without concern for
future generations. Through the prevalence of hatred, national and ethnic differences
become the breeding ground of suspicion and enmity, exploding in violence and endless
cycles of revenge. Delusion bolsters the other two unwholesome roots with false beliefs
and political ideologies put forward to justify policies motivated by greed and hatred.

While changes in social structures and policies are surely
necessary to counteract the many forms of violence and injustice so widespread in today's
world, such changes alone will not be enough to usher in an era of true peace and social
stability. Speaking from a Buddhist perspective, I would say that what is needed above all
else is a new mode of perception, a universal consciousness that can enable us to regard
others as not essentially different from oneself. As difficult as it may be, we must learn
to detach ourselves from the insistent voice of self-interest and rise up to a universal
perspective from which the welfare of all appears as important as one's own good. That is,
we must outgrow the egocentric and ethnocentric attitudes to which we are presently
committed, and instead embrace a "world-centric ethic" which gives priority to
the well-being of all.

Such a world-centric ethic should be molded upon three
guidelines, the antidotes to the three unwholesome roots:

(1) We must overcome exploitative greed with global
generosity, helpfulness, and cooperation.
(2) We must replace hatred and revenge with a policy of kindness, tolerance, and
forgiveness.
(3) We must recognize that our world is an interdependent, interwoven whole such that
irresponsible behavior anywhere has potentially harmful repercussions everywhere. These
guidelines, drawn from the Buddha's teaching, can constitute the nucleus of a global ethic
to which all the world's great spiritual traditions could easily subscribe.

Underlying the specific content of a global ethic are
certain attitudes of heart that we must try to embody both in our personal lives and in
social policy. The chief of these are loving-kindness and compassion (maitri and karuna).
Through loving-kindness we recognize that just as we each wish to live happily and
peacefully, so all our fellow beings wish to live happily and peacefully. Through
compassion we realize that just as we are each averse to pain and suffering, so all others
are averse to pain and suffering. When we have understood this common core of feeling that
we share with everyone else, we will treat others with the same kindness and care that we
would wish them to treat us. This must apply at a communal level as much as in our
personal relations. We must learn to see other communities as essentially similar to our
own, entitled to the same benefits as we wish for the group to which we belong.

This call for a world-centric ethic does not spring from
ethical idealism or wishful thinking, but rests upon a solid pragmatic foundation. In the
long run, to pursue our narrow self-interest in ever widening circles is to undermine our
real long-term interest; for by adopting such an approach we contribute to social
disintegration and ecological devastation, thus sawing away the branch on which we sit. To
subordinate narrow self-interest to the common good is, in the end, to further our own
real good, which depends so much upon social harmony, economic justice, and a sustainable
environment.

The Buddha states that of all things in the world, the one
with the most powerful influence for both good and bad is the mind. Genuine peace between
peoples and nations grows out of peace and good will in the hearts of human beings. Such
peace cannot be won merely by material progress, by economic development and technological
innovation, but demands moral and mental development. It is only by transforming ourselves
that we can transform our world in the direction of peace ' and amity. This means that for
the human race to live together peacefully on this shrinking planet, the inescapable
challenge facing us is to understand and master ourselves.

It is here that the Buddha's teaching becomes especially
timely, even for those not prepared to embrace the full range of Buddhist religious faith
and doctrine. In its diagnosis of the mental defilements as the underlying causes of human
suffering, the teaching shows us the hidden roots of our personal and collective problems.
By proposing a practical path of moral and mental training, the teaching offers us an
effective remedy for tackling the problems of the world in the one place where they are
directly accessible to us: in our own minds. As we enter the new millennium, the Buddha's
teaching provides us all, regardless of our religious convictions, with the guidelines we
need to make our world a more peaceful and congenial place to live./.

About the Speaker

Bhikkhu Bodhi was born in New York City in 1944. He
received a B.A. in philosophy from Brooklyn College (1966) and a Ph.D. in philosophy from
Claremont Graduate School (1972). In late 1972 he went to Sri Lanka, where he was ordained
as a Buddhist monk under the late Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayaka Thera. Since
1984 he has been editor of the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, and since 1988 its
president. He is the author, translator, and editor of many books on Theravada Buddhism.
The most important of these are The Discourse on the All-Embracing Net of Views
(1978), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (1993), The Middle Length
Discourses of the Buddha (1995), and The Connected Discourses of the Buddha
(due for publication in October 2000). He is also a member of the World Academy of Art and
Science.